Paradox Question Help? Forum

[nachosrgood]

Help appreciated on this. Why did you make your choice?

Question deleted, but thought it was ok b/c it was not an official LSAT question.

Mods note: this is not an official LSAT test.

[rinkrat19]

Don't post practice questions. See warning at the top of the page.

a. Wrong. The prompt states that the comet got brighter, and then they saw it break up. If this were the correct answer, it would explain the comet being seen to break up and then later getting brighter (as gas and dust were released a few weeks later).
b. Irrelevant. I assume this is true. Doesn't help explain the timing issue.
c. Correct. This explains how it got brighter (gas and dust were being released) and then it visibly broke up. If it had started cracking and releasing dust before actually splitting into pieces, that explains the timing issue
d. Irrelevant. We don't care why it broke, just when it broke in relation to when it got brighter.

[CardozoLaw09]

C because the paradox is that it started breaking up in November but they observed the comet becoming 1000x brighter in September, so the question is how is it that they made this observation, when in fact, it was November when the comet actually started to break up?

If the comet does not have to break up entirely, and gas and dust can be released by cracks, which in turn increases the brightness, then it's not necessary for the entire comet to have broken up in November, and the cracks in September would be enough for the astronomers to make that observation.

[nachosrgood]

Thanks, that was my first choice.

The only doubt I had was that a light refraction could possible lead to an inward focus of the comet and make it appear together. However, this is an unlikely refraction and would only last a short time, not even close to 3 months.

[CardozoLaw09]

You're adding outside knowledge to the question which you can't be doing on the LSAT. Only work with what the question gives you.

[rinkrat19]

Thanks, that was my first choice.

The only doubt I had was that a light refraction could possible lead to an inward focus of the comet and make it appear together. However, this is an unlikely refraction and would only last a short time, not even close to 3 months.

This is a logic question, not an invitation to make scientific speculations. These are answerable by people who have literally never taken a science class, who don't even know what "gravitation and "refraction" mean. If you have to think about whether something science-related is likely or not to evaluate your answer, it's probably wrong.

[rinkrat19]

btw, it's still against TLS policy to post non-official practice questions, since those too are copyrighted by someone.